Split Ends
by Fact Vs Fiction
Summary: Her fingers tightened at the sound, tufts of chestnut brown peaking out from between the pale digits before she ran them back, watching entranced as the tendrils slipped through her loosened grip to cascade down his back again. ShunsuixNanao


Title: Split Ends

Author: Fact Vs Fiction

Pairing: ShunsuixNanao

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach!

A/N: Strange little fic. Came to me while I was brushing by ridiculously long hair and thinking about how nice it'd be to have someone do it for me… Enjoy.

_**Split Ends**_

Shunsui resisted the urge to lean back into her touch with difficulty, allowing his eyes to slip closed.

This had all started a week ago. It was a Tuesday, just another day at the office, Nanao had been doing the paperwork like always when he'd waltzed in. Apparently something really had her attention because she wasn't fast enough to avoid his hug. When he'd finally let her breathe she quite calmly told him that his hair was a disgrace and then she'd said the word of nightmares.

Haircut.

She'd gone on to say something about his ends being split worse than Zaraki Kenpachi's but he hadn't been listening. Kyoraku-Shunsui _hated_ having his hair cut.

The argument had gone on all week and Nanao threatened to cut it herself if he didn't get it done over the weekend. Needless to say he hadn't.

That lead to their current situation. Shunsui sat wrapped up in a warm Yukata in front of his fire, his hair still damp from the shower. He looked up as Nanao entered the room, padding across the carpet armed with a hairbrush, comb and scissors. She was still in full uniform and her glasses glinted in the firelight.

"I'm just going to brush it out first taichou. I won't cut yet." He must have shied away from her unconsciously for her to reassure him like that, he realised.

He relaxed as Nanao eased the brush through the tangles, her hand resting gently against his head so as not to pull the waves too harshly. She murmured an apology every time the brush caught an unexpected snag. The snags became less and less frequent as she worked until she was simply running the brush straight through the locks.

She paused once finished untangling the waves but found herself bringing the brush back to his hair anyway. His face was so calm. Eyes closed, lips slightly parted… She'd read somewhere that people often enjoyed having their hair brushed. Apparently it was calming. Her captain was definitely calm now and she found she liked giving him that peace… She was quite enjoying it too if she was honest. It was methodical and she found the movements oddly soothing.

After a few minutes she decided that she really needed to get on with this before his hair curled again and reluctantly placed the brush down on the floor beside them. His eyes fluttered open but he kept them on the fire. She was just kneeling up, bringing the scissors to the ends when he spoke.

"Nanao-chan. Please don't cut it all off?"

"I'd never without your permission sir. Besides, apart from the split ends your hair is in excellent condition. It's simply that it hasn't been cut in so long, that's all. I'll take the very minimum."

"Thank you."

She'd been telling the truth. She would never, _ever, _cut his hair short. Even with his permission she wouldn't because the gods honest truth was she loved his hair. It absolutely enthralled her and had ever since she was a child. She'd never come across a man she could say was better suited to long hair than her captain. It softened his facial features and matched his easygoing artistic nature perfectly. As she'd grown older she'd realised that it was a scientific anomaly as well. Any normal soul of his age should have been greying quite severely even back a century ago. She'd always suspected him of dying it but she could tell just by handling it that his colour was still completely natural and the hair itself still incredibly thick. Apparently he was immune to mother nature. She liked that, it was so like him that she almost laughed.

He tensed as she made the first snip and she felt incredibly sorry for him. She handed him a piece of the cut hair.

"Just that much sir. Look at the ends it has to be done."

He nodded slowly. She was right of course, she always was. The lock in between his fingers was a mess even by his standards.

For a few minutes the only sound in the room other than the crackling fire was the snip of the scissors as she worked.

"When I was a kid, maybe seven or eight I decided to grow it out for the first time." He spoke eventually. "It didn't bother my mother and I didn't see enough of my father to even ask. You've seen my academy photo's?"

"Of course."

"It was about that length. My nurse absolutely hated it, thought it was scruffy and unbecoming of a Kyoraku so the night before a big dinner party she shaved me bald while I slept."

Her scissors stopped.

"That was a horrible thing to do."

"I haven't liked getting it cut since. It's a small thing, but…" He shrugged.

"Well I couldn't cut it short even if you asked me to so you have nothing to worry about."

"You couldn't?"

"I like your hair." She replied simply. "I have since I was a child."

"Why?"

"It's longer and thicker than mine." She replied honestly. "When I was still in the districts I was a child slave. The family I served kept me bald so I wouldn't draw attention. It's been very fine ever since."

"You never told me you were in slavery before."

"It isn't something I'm particularly proud of." She replied with a sigh. "I was in the forty eighth district. At the time children were rounded up off the streets. I was caught four months after arriving."

They fell silent again and she returned to her work. She placed the scissors down ten minutes later and picked up the brush again, bringing it back to the now curling tresses and running it through over and over and over again.

It felt good. Shunsui had never been a man to shy away from what felt good and embraced the feeling. There was something about the way the bristles ran so smoothly, cutting their paths through the strands, softly grazing the back of his neck before running down his shoulders. Nanao's small hand rested on the side of his neck to support his head.

It was such an innocent action, hair brushing, but Shunsui couldn't help finding it extremely erotic somehow.

He allowed his eyes slip closed again as the brush was replaced by long delicate fingers. He could feel the heat radiating from the digits, kidou to dry, but focused more on her touch.

She shouldn't have put the brush down, she knew it the second she touched the curls. As she'd worked she'd realised how intimate the supposedly simple action had become, and it _had_ become intimate, the care she was taking so suddenly obvious… and the trust he put in her to allow this… She could tell instinctively that he would never allow anyone else touch him like this. It was such a sensitive issue and one she'd never known about.

She hadn't been able to resist. She had to touch, had to feel.

It was almost dry under her kidou spells now. A thought fluttered across her mind and her body reacted before she could stop it or her unruly thoughts. Her hands closed suddenly around the locks.

His heart skipped a beat as her hands fisted. Not tight enough to be painful but enough to cause tension. Sweet tension, it was welcome and he allowed his head to drop back with a soft groan.

Her fingers tightened at the sound, tufts of chestnut brown peaking out from between the pale digits before she ran them back, watching entranced as the tendrils slipped through her loosened grip to cascade down his back again.

He turned once the last hair fell and wasn't all that surprised to find her watching her knees, her hands resting on them in small fists. Nanao didn't do impulsive all that well. She'd probably shocked herself. Fortunately for them both he had no such problems.

Her breath hitched as the large warm hand cupped her cheek and her eyes snapped to his. They glistened in the soft lighting, the firelight making the brown depths dance.

And then his lips were on hers.

Her eyes widened momentarily before slipping closed as she responded to his kiss. It was all he needed. He pulled her close, deepening the kiss. The hand from her cheek slipped back into her hair while the other one reached up to remove her clip before settling on the curve of her hip.

She knew she should stop. Knew it well, but couldn't. How long had she been denying this? Lying to herself to the point where there were days she actually believed she didn't love this man? She was a consequence girl to the core but though there would be one hell of a lot of _those_ come morning she couldn't bring herself to care. Allowing herself to feel with her heart rather than her head for once. How many times had he lectured her on that? It didn't really matter. What mattered was that her hands had fisted back into his hair. What mattered was that he was currently working his way down her neck with little kisses and nips making her gasp. What _mattered_ was that this felt right _now _and everything else was put on the backburner.

"Nanao-chan." He murmured before her lips took possession of his once more, passionately. He'd always maintained that there was fire under that cold glare and he'd been right. He almost smiled when she fought him tooth and nail for dominance, resulting in an intricate dance of tongue and hand from which he eventually emerged victorious.

Just.

As he lead her down the hall to the bedroom, her small hand in his she silently swore to herself that she'd brush his hair again, consequences be damned.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N: Yep. I'm back and this is probably the most serious thing I've written for this pair in a looooong while. Far more like my very first fics for the pairing I think… Has anyone noticed this is only the second time I've actually gotten them together in _writing_ in any of my fics? I find it difficult for some reason. *Shrugs* Just thought it was interesting… Anyway! Review! Good bad or otherwise ;-)


End file.
